Politics Involved in the NFL

It has been on all the major news networks lately that Rush Limbaugh was trying to be an NFL owner, more like a limited partner in a group. Why is this even news? Who really cares who the owners of teams are? As I did some research on this I found that politicians on both sides of the aisle are making large sums of money from the NFL. OpenSecrets.org That alone is not even big news to me since the owners of these teams obviously all have money, I am sure that none of them would continue to run a business that regularly losses money and alot of people with money support politicians like Oprah (NewsMeat-Oprah) and Bill Gates (NewsMeat-BillGates). So why was it such a big deal that Limbaugh was trying to be an owner?
Maybe it is because of all of that inappropriate talk that he puts over the air waves. The NFL would not want any of their owners to say or do anything inappropriate. How about these fine examples: Jennifer Lopez, Serena Williams or Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas. Here is an article with a few examples of things they have said.(bighollywood.breitbart.com) I guess if you are in certain professions you can say and do what ever and it will not affect your bid to be a team owner.

I don't see why people are so upset about who owns a team. Leave it to the fans to decide whether or not they want to support the team and owners. If the owner proves to not be good for the team the team starts to loose money. If the owner is loosing money I bet they would sell the team eventually, that what is so great about how economics work.

Global Warming

I don't think anybody can dispute the fact that global warming has happened, just a few years ago, about 20,000, the earth was covered in ice. Since that time the earth has gradually warmed to the point that the ice started to melt, hence "Global Warming". The big debate now is to what effect does man have on it.
Here is a link to an article that talks about the theory that the earths temperatures are based upon cycles. What happened to global warming? The author states that we have not seen any temperature increase in 11 years. Two theories in the article for the rise in temperates are solar cycles and ocean cycles. Both of which are said to be changing.
I must admit that I am not upon all the science behind global warming, I don't believe that man is causing it and here is why I believe that. The last ice age ended about 20,000 years ago, notice I said last ice age because there have been at least 4 major ice ages. All of them before man was around. If man was the cause of all of the earths problems how did we cause the problems before we were around.

When will Obama decide on Afghanistan

It's been a week since I initially wrote about Obama's decision on Afghanistan. So after a week we still have not heard anything on what direction the Obama administration wants to take on Afghanistan. So far this month iCasualties.org reports 20 US troops killed in Afghanistan, and we are only 10 days into the month. How long will it take for them to come to a decision on what direction we are going to take? It's nice that Obama found time this week to address the Gay community, ensuring them that they will get equal rights in the military, all the while ignoring the currently deployed troops in Afghanistan.

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

What does it take to win a Nobel Peace Prize? Apparently not much, looking at Obama's record what has he done to warrant the Nobel Peace Prize? Maybe it was for his actions in Iraq that decreased the violence there, how about the closing of Gitmo, or was it for the improvements he has made for the Afghan people? Just kidding we all know he has not done any of those things; it looks like he will make his commitment to pull out all "combat" troops from Iraq, mainly because he stopped calling our military "combat" troops. I thought that all of our troops were combat troops, even the cooks are trained to fire a gun and they are there to support the infantry and cavalry troops that we think of as combat troops. If we don't have combat troops there then why do we need support troops? So since we removed the combat troops why can't we bring the rest of our troops home?
How about the situation in Afghanistan, you know the good war? As of today we still do not have a new strategy for going forward, nor do we have an answer for the troop increase that his appointed General requested, even after we lost another 10 soldiers this week in what sounds like the most daring attack yet on one of our bases by insurgents. Maybe if we give him just a little more time he can find a new General that will agree with his position that he can put in charge, that way if his new strategy does not work he can blame someone else.
Also recently announced was that the Obama administration does not think that they will be able to close the horrible Gitmo prison. Why would that be, maybe because nobody wants to deal with housing these terrorists in their prisons.
With so little accomplished how did the Nobel Peace Prize committee select him for the honor. Maybe they felt bad because Saturday Night Live made fun of him, or it could be that they felt he deserved something since he lost the bid for the Olympics. After all in today’s society everybody deserves a trophy for their efforts right.

The Hall of Fame Classic

If you are looking for something to do this weekend you should check out USA Raceways for the Hall of Fame Classic. The race has previously been held at the former Manzanita Raceway in Phoenix, but with its closing earlier this year they needed to find a new place to hold the race. There will be five racers inducted into the Motorsports Hall of fame that night as well as eight current members of the Hall of fame there to sign autographs.
If you have never been to a dirt track you should check it out it's a lot of fun to watch. If you do go and you are sensitive to load noises you should take some ear protection as the cars can be pretty loud. The website says tickets are $10 a piece for adults and $8 for our brave Military, seniors and students. For more information on USA Speedway check out their website USA Speedway
Here is another website with some info on who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame and the list of what drivers will be there for autographs. AZ Motors Hall of Fame race

Nimbus on Tanque Verde

To say that I was excited about the new Nimbus opening would be an understatement. When I heard that a Micro-Brewery was opening on the east side of town I started having flash backs of the good food and beer that we would get we would go to the ones in Colorado and Wyoming. It brought back great memories of Gorgonzola and beer soup and the huge Nachos and a tasty port that we use to get on the cold days in the middle of winter in the mid west.

We had a chance to get over to Nimbus recently and sadly I was not impressed with the food. The beer and food prices weren't bad, nothing on the menu was over $9, but the food left a lot to be desired. I guess I should not have been that surprised though, I heard before we went that Nimbus partnered with Metro Restaurants to open the new location.

Off Highway Vehicle Tax

WOW, I must admit I am quite surprised by the Arizona Daily Star's posting of a law that is not being enforced. What does not surprise me is that they are complaining because US citizens are not following the law. The new law requires a $25 registration "fee" for all off road vehicles. This law took effect January 1, 2009. The article also states that they state was not enforcing the new law for six months. They also point out that the numbers of registrations have steadily declined since January, that might have something to do with the fact that as it gets hot out less people go riding. If we could only get the Star and more of it's readers concerned about other laws in our country that are not being followed or enforced, maybe like illegal immigration or human and drug smuggling just to name a couple. But I am sure that the "few" people that are breaking those laws are good people just looking for a better life, and that might be true for most of them but the fact remains that they are still breaking the law.

Here is the link to the article: www.azstarnet.com/metro/311879

The Less Impact House

There are many reasons to build a house that has less of an impact on the enviroment. Some people would do it for the enviroment aspect alone, while others are trying to be off the grid. You should look at what can be accomplished with some time, a little money and alot of patience.

The owners started with a 70's style ranch house and totally demolished it to build one of the greenest LEED certified homes today in its place. They utilize water harvesting technologies, solar energy and several other building techniques to reduce their footprint on the Sonoran desert.

It truly is an impressive undertaking. To find out more about the Less Impact Home check out its website at www.lessimpacthouse.com .

The TeaParty Movement

I saw a couple of people with a Tucson TeaParty sign the other day and they were collecting signatures to recall Gabriel Giffords. I started thinking, what is it that the TeaParties are trying to accomplish? Has it become a mainly conservative movement with the sole purpose to gain seats in Washington in 2010? On the local TeaParty website under the about us page it says they are a venue for people against government spending. I think they need to do a better job about getting out their message too the public.

In the Boston Tea Party that happened on Dec. 16, 1773, it was very clear what the people were protesting about, over taxation with out representation. The new TeaParty movement seems to be against anything associated with the Democrats. If the TeaParty movements gets taken over by partisan politics they risk alienating a large group of current and future followers. Today more people appear to being switching parties to an Independent because they are unhappy with both parties. By switching to an Independent voters are telling both parties that they need to earn the voters vote, the political parties can not just expect the voter to vote along party lines.At the same time the voter does not want a politician who is going to just vote with their party.

So in order for the TeaParties to gain any real relevance they need to do a better job about getting their message out, what is it they they stand for. Otherwise they risk of becoming the right wing equivalent of ACORN.

A New Direction in Afghanistan

As I read the news this morning I see that we have lost another three brave military members. I believe that brings the total to seven so far this month, and we are only three days into October. What is taking the Obama administration so long to decide on whether or not to send more troops to support the mission? The Commander that Obama put in charge of the “good” war in Afghanistan has requested more troops, how long will it take to come up with a decision? I noticed the President had time to go to Copenhagen, Denmark this week to support Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics, being the first sitting president of the US to ever do such a thing. We loose more young people to the streets of Chicago every year than we have in the war in Afghanistan, maybe it time we take a page from the Democrats own playbook and pull out of Chicago. We would not hold the Olympics in a country that is in the middle of war, so why were people so disappointed in Chicago when they did not get selected for the Olympics.
What else could be slowing down the Presidents decision on the troop increase, maybe the fact that he went to the UN and sat on the Security Board, another first for an American President? What did he accomplish at the UN on that historic first? He put in place the ground work for a new Nonproliferation Treaty. But what do these resolutions that the UN Security Council passes accomplish? How many resolutions have been passed by the UN Security Council only to be ignored, then in a stroke of brilliance the UN Security Council will write another resolution stating the same thing? How would that work with raising children, a parent tells there kid not to do something and the kid does it with no repercussion. The lack of accountability by the parent teaches the child that there are no consequences for their actions. When the society finally enforces its rules on that now grown child their first response is to blame somebody else for all of their problems. Think about it, how many times have you heard the excuse “It’s not my fault, I had bad parents growing up”, or “The bartender kept serving me drinks, it is their fault I got a DUI.” So if you pass a resolution that has no “teeth” as they say, what incentive does a country like North Korea or Iran have to abide by it?
Well hopefully president Obama has cleared his busy schedule now and he can get together with who ever is responsible for setting policy in Afghanistan and they can come up with a new plan or what ever it is they calling it get it implemented. I hope Obama does not play politics this very important issue and he listens to his Commanders and does what they ask. After all, that is why they are in charge right? They have been trained to lead the most loyal and well trained military there is, and every one of them has volunteered!!